Patients infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) often have opportunistic infections, among which strongyloidiasis and coccidiosis are the most common parasitic infections that aggravate their health status. This study examined the prevalence of intestinal parasites, particularly of Strongyloides stercoralis and intestinal coccidia in patients with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)/ Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) who were treated at the Specialized Assistance Service (SAE) of Jataí, State of Goiás, Brazil, and analyzed its correlation with clinical, laboratory, and socio-epidemiological parameters...

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of cadence, immersion level as well as body density on the vertical component (Fymax ) of ground reaction force (GRF) during stationary running (SR). METHODS: In a controlled, laboratory study, thirty-two subjects ran at a wide range of cadences (85-210 steps/min) in water, immersed to the hip and to the chest, and on dry land. Fymax. was verified by a waterproof force measurement system and predicted based on a statistical model including cadence, immersion ratio and body density...

Importance: The bleeding safety of ticagrelor in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction treated with fibrinolytic therapy remains uncertain. Objective: To evaluate the short-term safety of ticagrelor when compared with clopidogrel in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction treated with fibrinolytic therapy. Design, Setting and Participants: We conducted a multicenter, randomized, open-label with blinded end point adjudication trial that enrolled 3799 patients (younger than 75 years) with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction receiving fibrinolytic therapy in 152 sites from 10 countries from November 2015 through November 2017...

The neuronal control of the immune system is fundamental to the development of new therapeutic strategies for inflammatory disorders. Recent studies reported that afferent vagal stimulation attenuates peripheral inflammation by activating specific sympathetic central and peripheral networks, but only few subcortical brain areas were investigated. In the present study, we report that afferent vagal stimulation also activates specific cortical areas, as the parietal and cingulate cortex. Since these cortical structures innervate sympathetic-related areas, we investigate whether electrical stimulation of parietal cortex can attenuate knee joint inflammation in non-anesthetized rats...

BACKGROUND: Structural component of proteins and peptides, amino acids have been used as building blocks in the synthesis of more complex molecules with antitumor activity against several types of cancer. OBJECTIVE: The search for new anticancer compounds is ongoing, especially for cancers that are very aggressive and have poor prognoses, such as leukemia. METHOD: Here, we report a method to synthesize Tyr-Tyr dipeptides via sonochemistry reactions followed by functionalization of these Tyr-Tyr dipeptides with Suzuki-Miyaura and Sonogashira cross-coupling reactions in good yields...

CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: Microcytic anaemia results from defective synthesis of haemoglobin in the erythroid precursors, causing a reduction in its mean corpuscular volume (MCV). The most common causes of microcytosis, without the increase in HbA2 levels, are iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) and α-thalassemia. The aim of this study was to identify the causes of microcytic anaemia and evaluate the haematological parameters from blood donors deemed ineligible (due to the low haematocrit level) that would differentiate the IDA and α-thal, whether isolated or in association...

Control initiatives have successfully reduced the prevalence and intensity of schistosomiasis transmission in several localities around the world. However, individuals that release low numbers of eggs in their feces may not be detected by classical methods that are limited by low sensitivity. Given that accurate estimates of prevalence are key to implementing planning control actions for the elimination of schistosomiasis, new diagnostic tools are needed to effectively monitor infections and confirm transmission interruption...

Community ecology has traditionally assumed that the distribution of species is mainly influenced by environmental processes. There is, however, growing evidence that environmental (habitat characteristics and biotic interactions) and spatial processes (factors that affect a local assemblage regardless of environmental conditions - typically related to dispersal and movement of species) interactively shape biological assemblages. A metacommunity, which is a set of local assemblages connected by dispersal of individuals, is spatial in nature and can be used as a straightforward approach for investigating the interactive and independent effects of both environmental and spatial processes...

In this paper, weak turbulence theory is used to investigate the nonlinear evolution of the parametric instability in 3D low- β plasmas at wavelengths much greater than the ion inertial length under the assumption that slow magnetosonic waves are strongly damped. It is shown analytically that the parametric instability leads to an inverse cascade of Alfvén wave quanta, and several exact solutions to the wave kinetic equations are presented. The main results of the paper concern the parametric decay of Alfvén waves that initially satisfy e + ≫ e - , where e + and e - are the frequency ( f ) spectra of Alfvén waves propagating in opposite directions along the magnetic field lines...

OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to investigate the effects of a 6-month multicomponent exercise program on blood pressure, heart rate, and double product of uncontrolled and controlled normotensive and hypertensive older patients. METHODS: The study included 183 subjects, 97 normotensives, of which 53 were controlled normotensives (CNS), and 44 uncontrolled normotensives (UNS), as well as 86 hypertensives, of which 43 were controlled hypertensives (CHS), and 43 uncontrolled hypertensives (UHS)...

Sandy beach fauna is hypothesized to be mainly structured by environmental variables. As such, it is expected that morphodynamic characteristics are limiting factors, and the species pool inhabiting harsher reflective beaches would be a subset of (i.e., nested in) the fauna of nearby dissipative beaches. We investigated the existence of a nestedness pattern in sandy beach assemblages, as well as the contribution of environmental and spatial variables (i.e., factors that potentially affect an assemblage regardless of environmental conditions - typically related to distance between sites and dispersal of organisms) on sandy beach macrobenthic fauna...

A method based on Melting Temperature analysis of Hypervariable regions (HVR) of S1 gene within a RT-qPCR was developed to detect different genotypes of avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) and identify the Mass genotype. The method was able to rapidly identify the Mass genotype among IBV field isolates, vaccine attenuated strains and reference M41 strain in allantoic liquid and also directly in tissues. The RT-qPCR developed detected the virus in both tracheal and pulmonary samples from M41-infected or H120-infected birds, in a larger post-infection period compared to detection by standard method of virus isolation...

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effectiveness of balance exercises by means of virtual reality games in Parkinson's disease. METHODS: Sixteen patients were submitted to anamnesis, otorhinolaryngological and vestibular examinations, as well as the Dizziness Handicap Inventory, Berg Balance Scale, SF-36 questionnaire, and the SRT, applied before and after rehabilitation with virtual reality games. RESULTS: Final scoring for the Dizziness Handicap Inventory and Berg Balance Scale was better after rehabilitation...

BACKGROUND: The lack of motor ability is one of the main Down syndrome (DS) effects. However, there are several types of motor disorders that can be attenuated or corrected if they are early identified and properly analyzed. OBJECTIVES: The aim of our study is to support the local Physical Activity research group, which works with about 25 DS children, by means of computational resources for motor analysis. To that end, we first needed to identify the main computational approaches that support the motor analysis of DS individuals, if they are already connected to intervention programs, and potential opportunities to extend the current state of the art...

The present work aimed to investigate the presence of T. vivax DNA in the semen of experimentally infected goats. Twelve male goats native to the Brazilian Northeast, adults, were randomly assigned to two experimental groups: the infected group consisting of six goats infected intravenously with 0.5 mL of blood containing approximately 1.25 × 105 trypomastigotes of T. vivax, and a control group composed of six uninfected goats. After the infection, clinical examinations aiming to evaluate rectal temperature, parasitemia and hematocrit were performed...

Regulatory T cells (Tregs) characterized by the transcription factor forkhead box P3 (FoxP3) are crucial for maintaining immune tolerance and preventing autoimmunity. However, FoxP3 does not function alone and Helios is considered a potential candidate for defining Treg subsets. In this study, we investigated the expression and function of Helios for identifying Tregs in childhood precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (pre-B ALL). Our results demonstrated that patients with pre-B ALL had a higher percentage of Helios+ FoxP3+ CD4+ Tregs...